Composite wall panel for building construction

ABSTRACT

A wall panel comprising an upright core of plastic insulating material with skins overlying opposed faces of the core and extending beyond its top edge to form a continuous upper trough. Sets of generally vertical grooves extend from the continuous upper trough adjacent the skins to the bottom of the core. Additional sets of passages interconnect with the vertical passages to form a network of passages. The passages and open trough are filled with concrete to form a continuous upper beam supported by an integral open web type of construction. Panels may be placed end to end to form perimeter and other walls of a building.

United States Patent 1,

Tenorio COMPOSITE WALL PANEL FOR BUILDING CONSTRUCTION Carlos A.Tenorio, 3009 Catherine Dr., Fort Michell, Ky. 41017 Filed: Oct. 16,1972 Appl. No.: 297,975

Inventor:

US. Cl 52/293, 52/294, 52/300, 52/309, 52/439, 52/443, 52/607 Int. Cl.E04c 2/10, E04b2/42 Field of Search 52/293, 294, 309, 415, 52/378, 453,379, 444, 439, 577, 576, 405, 250, 259

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 9/1961 Kitson.... 52/309 l/1967Muhm.... 52/309 X 9/1969 Guddal 52/378 1/1971 Grcgori 52/309 3/1973Randolph 52/309 [451 July 30, 1974 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS1,277,802 11/1961 France ..52/259 1,080,366 10/1954 France ..52/259Primary Examiner.lohn E. Murtagh Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Irwin P.Garfinkle [57] ABSTRACT A wall panel comprising an upright core ofplastic insulating material with skins overlying opposed faces of 13Claims, 7 Drawing Figures COMPOSITE WALL PANEL FOR BUILDING CONSTRUCTIONBACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION One of the most commonly used buildingmaterials is concrete. It has many advantages, such as, it is relativelyinexpensive, easy to work with, relatively strong in compression, andbefore it sets it is a fluid so that it can be poured to conform to anyshape. Some of its disadvantages, however, are that it is very weak intension. In addition, it is a very poor insulator of both heat andsound. Since it is fluid before it sets, it requires either throw-awayforms or rather expensive re-usable forms. Since concrete needs acertain minimum thickness to flow inside a form, the thickness of apoured wall must be above a certain minimum (approximately 3 to 4inches). For a small building, such as a house, the resultant concretestructure has a strength that is many times greater than the strengthrequired so that large percentage of the concrete used is really wastedmaterial.

One approach to the solution of fabricating concrete into a buildingpanel is found in the patent to Kitson, US. Pat. No. 3,000,144. In thatpatent a core of foamed material has a series of grooves in its opposedfaces which are covered with outer skins. These grooves are filled withconcrete grout to form a concrete supporting structure within the foamedmaterial. While panel design is effective in minimizing the concreterequired, it has the disadvantage that it is not easily filled withconcrete grout. The many individual passages and grooves necessitate alaborious process in which individual passages are sequentially filledwith concrete grout.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention toprovide a composite wall panel which has a concrete reinforcing panelwhich utilizes the strength and which enables the concrete to be easilyincorporated in the wall panel during construction.

This end is achieved by a wall panel comprising an upright core ofplastic insulating material having spaced opposed faces and a top edge.Skins overlie the opposed faces and extend beyond the top edge of thecore to form a continuous upper trough. The core has first sets ofgenerally vertical grooves which form, in combination with the skins,sets of generally vertical passages extending downward from the trough.The trough and the sets of passages are fillable with concrete to formvertical posts supporting an integral continuous upper beam.

In the drawings:

FIG. I is an elevational view of a wall panel embodying the presentinvention; v

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary enlarged cross-sectional view of the wall panelof FIG. 1 taken on line 2-2 of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary cross-sectional view taken on line 3-3 of FIG.1, showing a foundation support for the wall panel of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a form used in the fabrication of an alternate foundationsupport for the wall panel of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary cross-sectional view of the alternate foundationsupport, the wall panel of FIG. 1 which is fabricated using the form ofFIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a plan view of a building structure made of wall panelsembodying the present invention; and

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of the resultant concrete structure that isformed when concrete is poured and cured in the wall panel of thepresent invention.

Referring to FIG. 1 there is shown a composite wall panel generallyindicated by reference character 10 which embodies the presentinvention. This panel may be conveniently made in a 4 foot x 8 foot x 4inch dimension. However, other sizes may be utilized to equal advantage.

The wall panel comprises a core 12 of plastic insulating material. Theinsulating material may be selected from a variety of materials, such asfoamed polystyrene, expanded polystyrene or foamed polyurethane. Asshown particularly in FIG. 2, the core 12 has opposed faces l4 and 16which are respectively covered by outer skins 18 and 20,'respectively.Skins l8 and 20 extend beyond the upper edge 40 of core 12 to form acontinuous upper trough 42, as shown in FIG. 3. These skins may beconveniently secured to the core at the time of manufacture and can bemade from a number of widely available construction materials for inneror outer walls. For example, if the structural panel is used for anoutside wall the skin 18 can be a vinyl skin which simulates outsidevertical siding and the skin 20 may be formed from self-skinnedpolyurethane foam for an inside wall. If the panels are to be used forinterior walls they may be formed with the polyurethane foam on bothsides or with Masonite, wall board, or other interior facing material.

The core 12 has a first set of grooves 22 adjacent face 14 and grooves24 adjacent face 16. Grooves 22 and 24 extend vertically downward fromtrough 42. Grooves 22 and 24 have diverging side walls 26 and 28,respectively, for a purpose to be described later. Core 12 has a secondset of generally horizontal grooves intersecting the vertical grooves.This set is comprised of grooves 30 intersecting grooves 22 along face14 and a set of grooves 32 intersecting grooves 24 adjacent wall 16.Grooves 30 and 32 have beveled side walls 33 and 35, respectively. Core12 also has a set-of passages 34 extending between grooves 22 and 24.

If desired, core 12 may also have a series of vertical passages (notshown) formed in between sets of vertical grooves 24 to provide accessfor electrical outlets via suitable openings through the panels 10.

The core 12 also has a channel-shaped recess 48 adjacent its side edges.The recess 48 is defined by lips 50 running the height of the core 12.The lips 50 permit the installation of a clip 52 which has end plates 54fitted over the back sides of lips 50 to hold core 12 against anadjacent panel, in addition to adhesive placed along lips 50 asdescribed below. The center section of the clip 52 has side walls 56which act to keep the lips 50 in lateral alignment.

To erect a panel 10 it is placed on one of the foundation supports shownin FIGS. 3 and 5. The foundation support 60, shown in FIGS. 3 and 1,comprises a series of channel-shaped blocks 64 which are placed inendto-end relationship over a suitable foundation wall 66 which runsalong the lower edge of the proposed wall. The foundation blocks 64 havea channel 68 with converging side walls and an upper edge 70. A seriesof spaced brackets 72 span the channel 68 and have upwardly extendingtabs 74 that position the bottom edge 76 of a wall panel 10 along thechannel 68. A reinforcing rod 71 may extend into the channel 68 througha joint between blocks from a concrete floor 73.

An alternate manner of foundation support is found in FIG. in which achannel 80 with converging side walls is formed in a poured concreteslab 82. This is particularly appropriate for interior walls where theslab 82 forms a floor for the building. To accomplish the formation ofchannels 80 a form 84 is placed over a W-shaped reinforcing rod 87 onthe subsurface 86 before the concrete slab 82 is poured. As is apparentin FIG. 4, form 84 has diverging flexible side walls 88 withlongitudinal ribs 90 for reinforcing. In addition, it has laterallyprojecting tabs 89. The concrete slab 82 is poured around the form 84.When the concrete slab 82 has cured, the form 84 is pulled out oftheslab upwardly and the side walls 88 deform to permit withdrawal ofthe form 84, thus leaving the open channel 80 with the reinforcing rods87. For this foundation support the wall panel is supported by thebrackets 72 which rest in recesses left by the tabs 89 on the uppersurface 92 of the slab. As a result, the brackets 72 are flush with theupper surface 92 of the slab. The clips 74 hold the bottom edge 76 ofthe wall panel 10 in alignment.

When the wall panels 10 are to be incorporated in the building there arespecial panels provided for the corners and T sections, as shown in planview in FIG. 6. A typical corner panel 96 comprises an upright core 98having an L-shaped cross section with a height and thickness equal tothat for a panel 10. Core 98 has skins 100 and 102 which extend beyondthe upper edge of core 98 to form a continuous trough equal in depth tothe depth of trough 42 in panels 10. Core 98 has a set of verticalgrooves 108 having diverging side walls adjacent its opposed facingsides and these grooves 108 extend from the open trough to the bottom ofthe core 98. A second set of horizontal grooves 110, having divergingside walls, intersects the vertical grooves 108. These sets of grooves110 are positioned to align with the sets of horizontal grooves in thepanels 10. Core 98 also has passages 112 which interconnect adjacent-vertical grooves 108. At the end of core 98 there are formedchannel-shaped recesses 114 defined by lips 116 which receive the clips52 in order to hold the T- shaped section to an adjacent panel.

The panels may also be formed as a T-section 120 when an interior wallends in an exterior perimeter wall. The T-shaped panel 120 comprises acore 122 of plastic foamed material having a T-shaped cross section. Askin 124 is formed on a face 126 of the core 122 and skins 128 and 130to cover the faces formed by the intersection of the arms with the baseof the T. The width and thickness of the legs of the T are equal to thatfor panels 10 and panels 96. A first set of vertical grooves 132, havingdiverging side walls, is formed in the opposed faces of the core 122.These grooves 132 extend downward from a continuous open trough formedby extending skins 124, 128 and 130 beyond the upper edge of the core122. This trough has the same depth as the trough 42 for panels 10 andthe trough for panels 96. A set of horizontal grooves 134, havingdiverging side walls, is formed in the core to intersect the sets ofvertical grooves 132. The set of grooves 134 is positioned to align withsets of horizontal grooves on adjacent panels 10 and 96. Passages 136provide an interconnection to the core between adjacent verticalpassages 132. T-shaped panels 120 also have channel-shaped recessed 138in their ends defined by lips 141. As is apparent, these lips receiveclips 52 which are used to hold panels 10 and together.

When a building is to be erected using the panels described above,foundation supports are first laid out in the desired pattern for thehouse. For example, as in FIG. 6, there is shown a portion of a buildingcomprised of panels 96 making up the corners, panels 10 forming thewalls in between and T-shaped panels 120 permitting aninterior wallpanel to be connected into the perimeter wall. The foundation supportsmay be the ones, as shown in FIG. 3, for the perimeter wall and thesupports in FIG. 5 shown for the interior wall extending between theperimeter wall. Once the foundation blocks are in place the panels aresimply placed on brackets 72 which span the channel in the foundationsupport. The plastic core makes the panels extremely light and easilymanaged by a single workman. Once the panels are aligned and secured endto end with a suitable adhesive applied to the lips 50 of panels 10,lips 116 of panels 96 and lips 141 of panels 120 and with clips 52, ifdesired, the structure is ready for filling with a unitary structuralcurable material, such as concrete. This is done simply by pouring theconcrete into the continuous upper trough 42 formed through and betweenthe upper edges of the panels 10 and also through the upper edges ofpanels 96 and 120. The continuous upper trough permits a highlyeffective distribution of cement which flows downward through thevertical sets of passages and through the horizontal passages, lateralpassages and finally into the channels 68 or 80 formed in the foundationblocks. To facilitate the pouring of the concrete in a rapid fashion itmay be desirable to pour at several locations. However, the distributioneffect of the open upper trough permits an entire house to be poured ata small number of locations.

Once the concrete has filled up the sets of passages and the lowerchannels and finally filled the continuous upper trough, it is permittedto cure. Once this is done what results is a structure which has a highdegree of insulation and an unusual strength and rigidity for the amountof concrete utilized. As shown in FIG. 7, which is a perspective view ofa panel in which the core and skins have been eliminated, the passagesenable the formation of a unitary concrete supporting structurecomprising a continuous upper beam (formed by trough 42) supported by aset of vertical columns 142 (formed by grooves 22, 24) extendingdownward to the integral. continuous bottom beam (not shown) formed bythe channels in the foundation supports. A second set of lateral beams144 (formed by grooves 30, 32) interconnect and extend between the setsof vertical columns 142 to give the structure additional rigidity.Finally, the cross beams 146 (formed by passages 34) interconnectadjacent vertical columns 142 to form a series of ladder-shaped columnssupporting the continuous upper beam 140. This structure has a mostefficient strength to weight ratio since the concrete is positioned inthe perimeter portions of the wall where it can resist bending and windforces to the greatest extent. In order to maximize the amount ofconcrete adjacent the perimeter of the panels all the grooves havediverging sides. which produce an outer face for the concrete posts 142and 144 which are wider than their interior face.

The above panels are so effective that they can be assembled into acompleted wall assembly for a house by said cores having first sets ofgenerally vertically excores have third sets of grooves aligned to formsets of continuous grooves through and between adjacent panels in theopposed faces of the cores intersecting the sets of generally verticalgrooves and forming, in combination with the skins, third sets ofpassages interconnecting said generally vertical passages to formnetworks of passages adjacent said skins, said third sets of passagesbeing filled with said unitary structural material.

several unskilled workmen within several days, thereby minimizing to ahigh degree the amount of labor necessary to construct a house usingthis technique. Various supporting functions, such as electrical linesand plumbing lines may be conveniently run through the 5 additionalpassages, if provided, and may also be partially formed in a factory tofurther minimize work on the site. It should be pointed out that theplastic insulating material gives such a high degree of insulation thatit far exceeds that available in residential types of construction.Furthermore, the plastic outer skins enable the panels to be precoloredwith durable finishes that do not need the high maintenance presentlynecessary for conventional facing materials.

While the preferred embodiment of the present invention has beendescribed, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that it maybe produced in other forms without departing from the spirit and scopeof the present invention.

Having described the invention, what is claimed as novel and desired tobe secured by Letters Patent of the United States is:

l. A building structure comprising:

a plurality of wall panels positioned upright in end-toend relationshipto form a continuous wall structure for a building, said panelscomprising cores of plastic insulating material having spaced opposedfaces, a top edge and a bottom edge, said core having skins overlyingthe opposed faces and extending beyond the top edges of the cores toform a continuous upper trough extending between said skins and throughand between said panels and forming a continuous upper trough around theperiphery of said wall;

tending grooves in the opposed faces thereof forming, in combinationwith the skins, first sets of generally vertical passages connectedto'and extending downward from said trough to the lower edges of saidcores;

said cores also having second sets of passages extending between saidopposed faces and interconnecting said first sets of passages; and

a unitary structural material filling the first and second sets ofpassages and the trough to form a continuous upper beam around theperiphery of said wall supported by an integral open web structure.

2. A building structure as in claim 1 wherein said horizontal troughthrough and between both panels;

said cores having first sets of generally vertically extending groovesin the opposed faces thereof forming, in combination with the skins,first sets of generally vertical passages extending downward from saidtrough to the lower edges of said cores;

a unitary structural material filling the sets of passages and thetrough to form a continuous upper horizontal beam supported by integralvertical posts;

a generally channel-shaped foundation support having the open end of thechannel facing upward; and

means for supporting the lower edge of said wall panels over and alongsaid channel, said unitary structural material from said first sets ofpassages filling said channel to form a continuous lower beaminterconnecting said first sets of passages.

4. A building structure as in claim 3 wherein said foundation supportsare formed from concrete blocks having a channel-shaped cross sectionand adapted to be positioned end to end to form said channel-shapedsupport.

5. A building structure as in claim 3 wherein said foundation supportcomprises a continuous concrete slab having a channel therein, saidchannel being formed by a yieldable form positioned in the concrete slabduring pouring and removable after the concrete cures to form saidchannel-shaped support.

6. A building structure as in claim 3 wherein said means for supportingsaid panels over said channel comprises a plurality of brackets spanningsaid channel and having a pair of tabs extending upward for forming aguide on which the bottom edge of the panels rests.

said second set of passages interconnect pairs of passages in said firstset.

10. A building structure as in claim 1 wherein said cores have recessesadjacent the point at which said continuous trough passes from one panelto another and wherein said building structure further comprises clipsreceived in said recesses to hold said panels in end-to-end relationshipduring erection of said panels.

11. A building structure as in claim 1 wherein said unitary structuralmaterial is concrete.

12 A building structure as in claim 1 wherein said panels are secured inend-to-end relationship by an adhesive applied to their side edges.

13. A building structure as in claim 5 wherein said yieldable form haslateral tabs forming recesses on opposite sides of said channel forreceiving brackets supporting said panels over said channel.

m-lose uurmv STA'IES PATENT OFFICE W CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTlON PatentNo. 3,826,052 Dated July 30,4914

Invcntofls) Carlos A; Tenorio ppears in the above-identified patent Itis certified that error a hereby corrected as shown below:

and that said Letters Patent are Column 4, line 1, "recessed" shouldread recesses Column 6, line 43, "claim 10" should read Claim 1 Signedand sealed this 5th day of November 1974.

(SEAL) Attest:

McCOY M. GIBSON JR. Attesting Officer C. MARSHALL DANN Commissioner ofPatents

1. A building structure comprising: a plurality of wall panels positioned upright in end-to-end relationship to form a continuous wall structure for a building, said panels comprising cores of plastic insulating material having spaced opposed faces, a top edge and a bottom edge, said core having skins overlying the opposed faces and extending beyond the top edges of the cores to form a continuous upper trough extending between said skins and through and between said panels and forming a continuous upper trough around the periphery of said wall; said cores having first sets of generally vertically extending grooves in the opposed faces thereof forming, in combination with the skins, first sets of generally vertical passages connected to and extending downward from said trough to the lower edges of said cores; said cores also having second sets of passages extending between said opposed faces and interconnecting said first sets of passages; and a unitary structural material filling the first and second sets of passages and the trough to form a continuous upper beam around the periphery of said wall supported by an integral open web structure.
 2. A building structure as in claim 1 wherein said cores have third sets of grooves aligned to form sets of continuous grooves through and between adjacent panels in the opposed faces of the cores intersecting the sets of generally vertical grooves and forming, in combination with the skins, third sets of passages interconnecting said generally vertical passages to form networks of passages adjacent said skins, said third sets of passages being filled with said unitary structural material.
 3. A building structure comprising: at least two wall panels positioned upright in end-to-end relationship, said panels comprising cores of plastic insulating material having spaced opposed faces and a top and bottom edge and skins overlying the opposed faces and extending beyond the top edges of the cores to form a continuous upper horizontal trough through and between both panels; said cores having first sets of generally vertically extending grooves in the opposed faces thereof forming, in combination with the skins, first sets of generally vertical passages extending downward from said trough to the lower edges of said cores; a unitary structural material filling the sets of passages and the trough to form a continuous upper horizontal beam supported by integral vertical posts; a generally channel-shaped foundation support having the open end of the channel facing upward; and means for supporting the lower edge of said wall panels over and along said channel, said unitary structural material from said first sets of passages filling said channel to form a continuous lower beam interconnecting said first sets of passages.
 4. A building structure as in claim 3 wherein said foundation supports are formed from concrete blocks having a channel-shaped cross section and adapted to be positioned end to end to form said channel-shaped support.
 5. A building structure as in claim 3 wherein said foundation support comprises a continuous concrete slab having a channel therein, said channel being formed by a yieldable form positioned in the concrete slab during pouring and removable after the concrete cures to form said channel-shaped support.
 6. A building structure as in claim 3 wherein said means for supporting said panels over said channel comprises a plurality of brackets spanning said channel and having a pair of tabs extending upward for forming a guide on which the bottom edge of the panels rests.
 7. A building structure as in claim 1 wherein the skins on one face of the panels are formed as exterior siding panels for said building and the skins on the other face of the panels are formed as interior wAll panels.
 8. A building structure as in claim 1 wherein said cores are formed from foamed material.
 9. A building structure as in claim 10 wherein: said third sets of passages extend generally at right angles with respect to said first sets of passages; and said second set of passages interconnect pairs of passages in said first set.
 10. A building structure as in claim 1 wherein said cores have recesses adjacent the point at which said continuous trough passes from one panel to another and wherein said building structure further comprises clips received in said recesses to hold said panels in end-to-end relationship during erection of said panels.
 11. A building structure as in claim 1 wherein said unitary structural material is concrete. 12 A building structure as in claim 1 wherein said panels are secured in end-to-end relationship by an adhesive applied to their side edges.
 13. A building structure as in claim 5 wherein said yieldable form has lateral tabs forming recesses on opposite sides of said channel for receiving brackets supporting said panels over said channel. 